Week 3 Term 2

Email: stjohnsprimarydubbo@bth.catholic.edu.au                    Phone: 6882 2677/6882 2653

SCHOOL MANAGER/PRIEST: Father Greg Kennedy            PRINCIPAL: Mr Anthony O’Leary

P&F MEETINGS: 2nd & 7th Tuesday each term.

Parents/guardians-Please note that photographs of students may be used in publication. Please advise the School Office if you do not approve of your child’s photo being used.

WEEK 3

Tuesday May 14th - Year 6 Pre Confirmation Retreat St John's College

WEEK 4

Wednesday 22nd May - Year 4-6 NSW Netball Cup

Friday 24th May - Rugby Union Winter Sport Trials BATHURST

Welcome to Week 3

I hope all of our Mothers, Aunts, Grandmothers and all significant women in our lives felt extra special and acknowledged yesterday. Mother’s Day can also be a time of memory as well when we think and remember the special women in our lives who are no longer with us. Thank you to all our Mum’s.

I would like to pass on a massive note of thanks to everyone for their contribution to the successful Catholic Schools Week last week. SJP enjoyed so many highlights for the week, buddy reading, a Liturgy of thanks, a tremendous turn out for open classrooms and lunch from our parents, a successful Mother’s Day stall hosted by our P&F, sports games and so much more. All of these events highlight the nurturing and inclusive nature of our school. Well done SJP.

KINDERGARTEN 2025 ENROLMENTS

I am happy to let our community know that our Kinder enrolment for students who wish to join SJP are proving very popular for 2025. We take pride in providing a nurturing and enriching educational environment, where each child is given the opportunity to thrive and excel. We also have limited spots still available in some grades. If you know of any families who may be interested in enrolling their child, please encourage them to contact our school office for more information.

At SJP we pride ourselves on the love and care we have for the students and families in our community. From time to time children will have some anxiety about coming to school and we are always here to support them. If your child is having any unsettling feelings about attending school, please let us know so we can work together and support your child with this. 

Each day missed: 

• Puts your child behind and makes it harder for them to catch up 
• Can lead to lower achievement in reading, writing and numeracy 
• Can lead to gaps in learning and impact on social and emotional skills

Gospel and Reflection: Mark 16:15-20

15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

The Church is a missionary people

The Church doesn’t have a mission, rather Jesus’ commission ‘go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation’ has a Church. St John Paul II spoke much of the new evangelisation, of the uncommitted, the converted and diverted across all cultures in the world. Pope Francis has built on this foundation with calls for an integral ecology that respects the diversity and unique expressions of our faith. Far from being missionary ‘to the people’ (Ad Gentes), Antonio Pernia, SVD describes the modern experience of mission (Inter Gentes) ‘as dialogue with people, as encounter between peoples and as finding a home among the people’. The Church is called to be a missionary people who enter into the cultural world of our society and preach all of the Gospel, to all of the people, all of the time.

God Bless and have a wonderful week

Anthony O’Leary

Thankyou! Last Friday was a beautiful example of our school community coming together and supporting our children. We are grateful to all of the parents and grandparents who took time out of the day to attend our Mother’s Day Liturgy, P&F Afternoon Tea and/or visited classrooms. We trust you enjoyed your visit to SJP as much as we enjoyed seeing you all. Thankyou for supporting these great activities that formed part of a very busy Catholic Schools Week! Finally - the SJP Facebook page received a number of posts last week indicating how much we were enjoying our CSW activities. Feel free to have a look!

Year 6 Pre-Confirmation Retreat Day : Tomorrow, our Year 6 grade will experience the opportunity to work with Leader of Faith Elissa Burden from St. John’s College in preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation. This will be a day of learning, group work, singing, interacting with others (St. Laurence’s will be joining with us) and growing in our faith journeys. I have no doubt, Year 6 will enjoy their day spent at SJC.Year 6 will need to bring normal recess, lunch and a water bottle on the day and wear their normal sports uniform including their school hat.

Grade Masses: Beginning this Wednesday 15th May, our first Grade Mass will be held at St. Brigid’s Church. This is a new initiative this term and we are hopeful that the opportunity to travel to the Church to celebrate Mass together with Fr Greg will be a moment that all students and teachers will enjoy and find enhances their faith journey. Year 6 will attend on this date. The Mass will begin at 12pm. All parents of Year 6 students are more than welcome to attend the Mass with us.

2nd Thursday Dinners: Once again, SJP proudly continued their commitment to our local parish of St. Brigid’s by serving at last weeks 2nd Thursday Dinner.  A big thankyou to our Captains Poppy and Max and Vice-Captains Brooklyn and Chelsea for assisting at the dinner. The comments from diners were once again glowing! 

For those who are unaware, a parish dinner is offered once a month and varies in the theme/meal offered. The cost is $15 per person and the dinner is held at St. Brigid's Hall.  Such occasions give communities members an opportunity for an outing, catch-up with friends and the possibility of meeting new people to Dubbo. If you are interested in finding out more about upcoming dinners, please feel free to contact the Parish Office on 68824233.

Confirmation Preparation Sessions:                                                                                                Preparation sessions for this sacrament are now well underway.

Sessions will be offered: 

SESSION 2: SUNDAY 12th May = 10AM/TUESDAY 14th May = 6:15PM/WEDNESDAY 15th May = 4:30PM 

SESSION 3: SUNDAY 19th May = 10AM/TUESDAY 21st May = 6:15PM/WEDNESDAY 22nd May = 4:30PM

Once again, it you have not yet received correspondence from Sacramental Coordinator Rosie Hosking, please contact her immediately on: sacraments.dubbo@cdob.org.au

MASS TIMES:

St. Brigid’s Church: Saturday - 5:00pm, Sunday - 9:00am and Sunday - 5:00pm

St. Laurence’s Church: Sunday - 7:30am and Wednesday 9.30am

Enjoy your week!

Paula Clifford

Religious Education Coordinator

Our meetings are held Week 2 & Week 7 of each term, on a Tuesday evening at 6:30pm. Please feel free to come along and join us. 

Details of location will be posted in the school newsletter closer to the date. 

If at any stage, you would like to get in contact with the P&F, please send us an email: sjpdubbopandf@gmail.com Alternatively, please follow us on Facebook - search for:         St John's Primary Parents and Friends.

SPB4L

This week we will continue to focus on the SPB4L focus of ‘safe and respectful behaviour expectations at bus bay, pick up zone and walking/crossing roads’.